By Laura Gasque

The Heart Failure Society of America is recognizing the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Heart FailuRe Transitional Care Services for Adults (HRTSA) Clinic team with a 2025 Outstanding Heart Failure Care Team Award.

“We are truly excited to be receiving this award,” said UAB School of Nursing Associate Professor and Senior Director of the HRTSA Clinic Connie White-Williams, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN (MSN 1991, PhD 2009). “We would also like the thank UAB Medicine as well as nursing and cardiology leadership for supporting and sustaining the interprofessional health care delivery model.”

The HRTSA Heart Failure Clinic is a nurse-managed interprofessional, collaborative clinic for underserved patients with a diagnosis of heart failure. It began in 2014 with a three-year, $1.5 million grant to now-Dean and Fay B. Ireland Endowed Chair Maria R. Shirey, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, ANEF, FACHE, FNAP, FAAN. She and White-Williams implemented the clinic for underinsured and/or medically underserved patients with heart failure discharged from UAB Hospital, with the goals of better coordinating their care, improving their quality of life and reducing 30-day hospital readmissions.

UAB Medicine has operated the HRTSA Clinic since 2017, and it is a demonstration of a successful academic-practice partnership among the UAB School of Nursing, UAB Hospital Nursing, and Cardiology.

“This recognition acknowledges the daily commitment of our interprofessional team of advanced practice providers, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, health professionals, and office staff in providing care to underserved patients with heart failure,” said Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH, UAB Medicine Professor and Section Head of General Cardiology, Prevention, and Imaging and collaborating physician for the clinic. “Not only do we provide guideline-directed medical therapy and education to our patients and their families, we also address their social determinants of health. Our goal is to provide our patients with resources that empower them to manage their heart failure and become good stewards of their own health.”

The HRTSA Clinic team collaborates with hospital cardiologists and hospitalists who refer an average of 35 patients a month. Since its inception, this clinic has served more than 1,700 patients. The clinic team also has participated in multiple research endeavors over the years, leading to the dissemination of their work in 20 publications and through multiple local, national and international presentations.

The HRTSA Clinic team received the award at the HFSA Annual Scientific Meeting in September 2025.

Members of the HRTSA Clinic team include:

• Vera Bittner, MD, MSPH
• Hilary Bradford, MSN, CRNP, FNP-C
• Monique Campbell, MSN, RN (MSN 2015)
• Allison Dahl, LICSW
• Peterica Hall, CMA
• Takenya Hicks
• Shana Nash, MSW
• Brittany Prewitt, MHA
• Sonia Smith, MSN, AGPCNP-BC (BSN 2015, MSN 2017)
• Carla Turner, DNP, ACNP-BC (MSN 2008, DNP 2013)
• Tanchaka Weatherly, LMSW
• Connie White-Williams, PhD, RN, FAHA, FAAN (MSN 1991, PhD 2009)
• Brittany Woody, BSN, RN